Watermelon can be both the fruit and the plant of a vine-like herb originally from southern Africa and one of the most common types of melon. This flowering plant produces a special type of fruit known by botanists as a pepo, a berry, which has a thick rind and fleshy center ; pepos are derived from an inferior ovary and are characteristic of the Cucurbitaceae. The watermelon fruit, loosely considered a type of melon, has a smooth exterior rind and a juicy, sweet interior flesh.